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Corruption in
Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
is a pervasive problem at all levels of
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
, as well as in the military and police forces. A general culture and awareness of this corruption permeates society as a whole. Various factors have contributed to political corruption in Colombia including:
drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestion, ...
, guerrilla and paramilitary conflict, weak surveillance and regulation from institutions, intimidation and harassment of whistle-blowers, and a widespread apathy from society to address unethical behavior. The government is continuously taking steps to measure and reduce levels of corruption at all levels through anti-corruption policies. Initiatives have also been headed by the private sector in the interest of facilitating and encouraging business activities. A Global Corruption Barometer survey from 2010 found that the institutions seen as most corrupt were the political parties and the parliament, followed by the police and public officials, the judiciary and the military.
Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil s ...
's 2024
Corruption Perceptions Index The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index that scores and ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as assessed by experts and business executives. The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entr ...
, based on experts' and businesspeople's perceptions of corruption in the public sector, gave Colombia a score of 39 on a scale from 0 ("highly corrupt") to 100 ("very clean"). When ranked by score, Colombia ranked 92nd among the 180 countries in the Index, where the country ranked first is perceived to have the most honest public sector. For comparison with regional scores, the highest score among the countries of the Americas was 76, the average score was 42 and the lowest score was 10. For comparison with worldwide scores, the best score was 90 (ranked 1), the average score was 43, and the worst score was 8 (ranked 180).


History

Practices of corruption that plague politics and the judicial system are, in part, rooted in the colonial legacies of the Spanish conquest. The Spanish Empire was known to possess a disorganised and corrupt bureaucracy, which was transplanted to its colonies, including Colombia. The first courts established by the Spaniards in America were also known to be corrupt and inefficient. For example, Colombia inherited the ineffective and distrusted legal system which fails to guarantee private property rights in order to promote economic investment. One of the primary ways colonial elites could make a fortune was through occupying important positions in the judicial bureaucracy of the colony and thereby capturing rents.


Impacts

Between 1989 and 1999, corruption in Colombia is estimated to have cost the state 1% of its
GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performance o ...
annually. In addition to the economic cost of corruption, other aspects of Colombian society have been affected such as the loss of credibility of politicians and the Colombian government, as well as the demoralization and disinterest of society at large in political participation. Recent studies of criminal behavior in the country indicate that while the rate of crime grew annually about 39.7%, the criminal behavior by officials in local and national government grew 164.1%, and despite this increase there are few
conviction In law, a conviction is the determination by a court of law that a defendant is Guilty (law), guilty of a crime. A conviction may follow a guilty plea that is accepted by the court, a jury trial in which a verdict of guilty is delivered, or a ...
s. The levels of administrative corruption are so high that as of 2011, the media reports of such felonies overshadow the stories on terrorism or armed conflict. A 2005 study published by Transparency for Colombia (''Transparencia por Colombia'') assessed the index of integrity of governments, assemblies, and comptrollers at the departmental level and concluded that none of those dependencies scored an appropriate level of integrity. 51% were prone to high or very high levels of corruption. Colombia's modern corruption takes place mostly at the level of business between politicians and officials with private contractors and companies. The lack of ethical behavior among private individuals or organizations, and politicians has resulted in a culture known in Colombia as ''"serrucho"'' (saw), in which it is almost the norm for individuals to bribe politicians in order to be granted contracts and for politicians to add commissions and extra costs for their own benefit. Other sources of corruption come from the result of privatization of government owned institutions in which the profits are used by individuals for their own wealth. According to Transparency for Colombia, the country ranks 70th of 180 countries in the 2008
Corruption Perceptions Index The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index that scores and ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as assessed by experts and business executives. The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entr ...
. However, the problem of corruption is a high priority to only 2.9% of the people interviewed versus violence, which is a high priority to 31.49%, and unemployment, which is a high priority to 20.7%. According to a study by the
Universidad Externado de Colombia The Universidad Externado de Colombia (Externado University of Colombia) is a private university in Bogotá, Colombia. It has produced graduates including lawyers, academics, judges, financiers, journalists, as well as senior government officials a ...
, corruption is one of the main factors that render doing business difficult in Colombia. 91% of entrepreneurs consider that some business owners pay bribes. 16.92% say that a businessperson will offer a bribe, and out of the 28.4% of entrepreneurs who were asked for money or favors by a government official, only 8.52% reported it to the authorities in an effective way.


Political corruption

Current levels of corruption have increased steadily since 2009 and continue getting worse as the
Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
and the
comptroller A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accountancy, accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior- ...
discover corruption at almost every level of government, from local to national. In September 2009, 48,000 government officials, including 800 mayors and 30 governors, were being investigated for corruption. The issue of corruption has not been isolated to one political party; accusations of corruption span the
political spectrum A political spectrum is a system to characterize and classify different Politics, political positions in relation to one another. These positions sit upon one or more Geometry, geometric Coordinate axis, axes that represent independent political ...
, from right-wing conservatives in the Party of National Unity to the left-wing Democratic Pole. The discouragement of society from addressing the many cases of corruption in Colombia also stems from the well known immunity: only a small percentage of officials investigated for corruption are likely to suffer legal consequences. In addition, it is difficult for the judicial system to handle many investigations at lower levels. At the top, politicians avoid prosecution via political maneuvering and loopholes, sometimes under the protection of their own political party. An example of this is the attempt by the Party of National Unity to pass a bill that would protect its politicians involved in the parapolitics scandal. Colombia's corruption is also the result of a long coexistence between the drug trafficking and a rush of society members to achieve easy wealth, thus rendering every aspect of society vulnerable to corruption, from politics, to agriculture and sports.


Within institutions

Many institutions in Colombia have been the subject of administrative corruption. Some Examples of large institutions, that span across industries and have been involved in major cases of corruption, include: ''Ferrovias'' (national railroad administration), ''Caprecom'' (health care), ''Foncolpuertos'' (ports authority), ''Termorrio'' (energy), ''Dragacol'' (civil engineering), ''Chivor reservoir'' (water supply), and contracts with foreign companies such as Mexican ICA for the pavement of streets in Bogota.


Municipal-level

Levels of corruption at the local level (towns, cities) has been increasing since 1990, relative to corruption levels at the national scale.


Political corruption scandals

Political corruption scandals in Colombia are often related to the
Colombian conflict The Colombian conflict () began on May 27, 1964, and is a low-intensity asymmetric war between the government of Colombia, far-right paramilitary groups, crime syndicates and far-left guerrilla groups fighting each other to increase their i ...
that has affected the country since 1964.


Processo 8000


Parapolitics


Administrative Department of Security (DAS)

The 2006 DAS scandal involved the now-defunct
Administrative Department of Security The Administrative Department of Security (, DAS) was the security service agency of Colombia, which was also responsible for border and immigration services. It was dissolved on 31 October 2011 as part of a wider Executive Reform, and was replac ...
(Departamento Administrativo de Seguridad, DAS) illegally wiretapping the telephones and other communication lines of Supreme Court magistrates, judges, senators, journalists and other prominent figures perceived as opposition to the Uribe administration.


Yidispolitics

The Yidispolitics Scandal, caused by declarations of the Colombian ex-representative, Yidis Medina, in which she claims that Colombian government offered her important jobs and money if she voted for the approval of Uribe's reelection.


Contract Carousel


Others

The 2011 DIAN (Office of taxation and customs) scandal in which the administrative staff plotted ways to steal millions of dollars from the Colombian taxpayers through a complex system of fake companies and legal loopholes. In 2011 a number of mayors in different departments misused money that was supposed to help Colombians that were affected by floods. Instead of using this money for the victims this officials used the funds for political campaigns and personal matters. In September 2011 former mayor of Bogota Samuel Moreno was convicted for irregularities in contracts with private businesses, under a scandal named "contract carousel" by the media. In February 2014 a massive corruption network within the Colombian army was exposed. High-ranking military officers siphoned money and took bribes in order to grant contracts. Some of this senior officers took bribes up to 50% of the cost of the contracts they awarded. Other elements of the military were taking money that was intended to be used for military supplies In February 2018, the ''Corte Suprema de Justicia'' leaked audios in which ex-president Alvaro Uribe talks with ''Juan Guillermo Villegas'', investigated for paramilitarism, about manipulating witnesses in a case against ''Ivan Cepeda''; a Colombian senator. Uribe knew they were being intercepted, and literally says "those sons of bitches are hearing this call".


See also

* Crime in Colombia *
Corruption Perceptions Index The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) is an index that scores and ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption, as assessed by experts and business executives. The CPI generally defines corruption as an "abuse of entr ...
* Elections in Colombia *
Government of Colombia The Government of Colombia is a republic with separation of powers into executive, judicial and legislative branches. Its legislature has a congress, its judiciary has a supreme court, and its executive branch has a president. The citi ...
* 2018 Colombian anti-corruption referendum


Notes


References

{{South America topic, Corruption in
Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
Crime in Colombia by type Politics of Colombia
Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
Law of Colombia Economy of Colombia Government of Colombia Society of Colombia